Cooperative Control of Unmanned Surface Vessels and Unmanned Underwater Vessels for Asset Protection

This project focused on the development of a control system for a heterogeneous swarm of unmanned surface vessels USVs and unmanned underwater vehicles UUVs used for asset protection. The control system utilizes a hybrid control scheme, relying on both behavior-based and systems-theoretic concepts. Under this hybrid approach, the swarm is provided with better adaptability, robustness, and overall performance than it would possess under either of these methods alone. Simulations demonstrate the efficacy of the controller for the primary task asset protection as well as several secondary tasks. The first part of this project focused on generating the capability functions, designing the primary and secondary controller and utilizing simulations in different environments to ensure that the controller works as desired. The second part of the project then focused on the hybrid aspect of the swarm, where long baseline technique were used in order to localize the UUV and to mitigate capability degradation in the sub-surface domain. The ability to interdict targets on the surface and the sub-surface was also considered and included as part of the capability control system. The results of this experiment provide a robust, adaptable, and highly mission-capable control system for a cooperative swarm of USVs and UUVs. This in turn will provide the foundation for future systems of a cooperative nature.